chapter four

Castor woke up the next morning through a monotonous groove. He took a swift shower, brushed his teeth, slid into new clothes, and went downstairs to the kitchen. He was greeted by a bowl of cornflakes, and a glass of milk resting on the counter. As he began to tentatively munch through his breakfast, Castor noticed Chord was still slumped up on the porch completely zoned out. It would take about half an hour before Chord was fully awake, and prepared to tackle the day.

By eleven o'clock he was standing in the kitchen grasping a crumpled piece of paper in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

"First stop is at Monster's Emporium. If you know where to go and where to find top quality items for your school term at Aurelius, Monster's Emporium is the place, and most monster hunters go there," said Chord.

"What if someone who's not a monster hunter goes there?" queried Castor.

"They won't, they're too busy to care. And if they do happen to stumble across Monster's Emporium, it will just look like a regular store to them."

Chord and Castor ambled to a nearby bus station beneath their apartment. They chipped away the time observing the cars that zoomed by them and the various sounds of horns clapping away in all directions on the road. Soon they saw a medium gray bus clambering towards them and they hopped on.

Chord and Castor hunted for seats in the tail end of the bus until they found a slanted one next to a thugging man with huge hands and a scrunched up face. The usual smell of cottage cheese had snuck into Castor's nose and besides the huge man they were sitting near, the bus seemed to be filled with a bunch of grumpy uninviting faces. Three seats back there was a bald man covered in warts who shared a murderous glance next to a woman who remarkably resembled an emu.

After ten minutes warped around, Chord and Castor arrived at a towering glass building with tall golden spindles planted at the front entrance, and a golden sign that was arced like bent rubber that read Thrift Shop. But when Castor swiped a second glance at the sign, the words rearranged themselves to read Monster's Emporium.

"See, I told you they won't notice a thing," said Chord.

Soon they found themselves swept in the building. To Castor's statement, the interior of Monster's Emporium was smaller than it appeared outside. The store contained an encasement of black walls that hung glimmering swords, revolvers, and rifles. As well as an array of blazers, sweaters, sweater vests, dress shirts, and ties that hung on the right wall. As you walked further there was a looming entranceway that introduced the hallway of swords, guns, and attirement.

The store hinted a lingering smell of cigarettes, and beer endorsed by the dimming light that flickered in a languishing manner. There was a single bulb of light that swung above them and the floor gently creaked. To their left was a man standing behind a granite desktop, pampered by a glassed alcove, calmly reading what appeared to be a newspaper. He had a bushy gray beard, frizzly gray hair, and a fierce stare which carried misty and opaque blue eyes. Castor couldn't help but feel an ominous uneasiness about the man. It seemed as if the way he was poised was unnatural.

"Nice to see you gadding about Chord. You here on Aurelius business again?" the gray haired man asked as he lay his newspaper down. He had a deep gutteral voice, the kind that scratched the depths of the earth.

"On the nose Gulam. You should get a raise for that but seeing your current condition, I suspect that wouldn't be such a good idea."

The scraggly old man chuckled. "I had a Nightwalker on my tail last night. Didn't even take a second to look at who I was, just went for it ya know? Crazy monstrous bastards. But hey, at least I still have this job. Who's the kid?"

"Castor Williams. His mother..err..recently passed away so I'm taking him under my wing until the school term begins. Castor this is Gulam, an old friend of mine." There was a slight spike in Chord's voice when he said friend.

Gulam inched forward toward Castor with his orblike misty eyes, then he smiled, revealing what looked to be the most frightening misshapen teeth he'd ever seen.

"Tell me, Castor, from your own caliber of knowledge, do you know what a monster truly is?"

Castor was silent for a moment, carefully soaking the question in. He wasn't sure if he like Gulam all that much but he was by far the most interesting person he's met. Castor shook his head and Gulam smirked.

"I wouldn't expect you to. You've quite a distance to go kid, stick by Chord here and you should do alright."

Suddenly Gulam picked up his newspaper with an avarice glare in his eyes. "It seems the MHA has another case on its shoulders. How the woes keep accumulating."

"What do you mean?" Chord asked.

"A firebreather is on the loose. Sources say he hasn't been spotted for several years and now they're blabbering on about how he's back in Columbus."

"It shouldn't take the MHA this long then, should it?"

"Apparently it has. That's what's been boggling me. It seems this firebreather knows his way around and about the streets."

"We'll catch him, don't worry."

"That's what the last monster hunter promised."

"Oh shut it Gulam, you can be a little too histrionic for my taste at times. Don't make that one of those times."

"The kid doesn't know does he?" Gulam asked.

"He doesn't have to. Come on Castor, we have some shopping to do."

The pair swindled around the store examining the different swords on the wall until Castor decided on a tall gleaming silver sword, which refracted a sleazy edginess and held a golden hilt embroidered on a black thread. Then they moved on to get a silver revolver with an elongated barrel and then finished off by grabbing Castor's aforementioned school uniforms. After they were done scoping the place, Chord gave Gulam their items and Gulam leisurely began to check them out.

"I hope to see you guys again. Preferably at a more secluded time," said Gulam, sewing an abominable grin.

As Chord and Castor were leaving, Castor noticed that the man who was standing behind the glass encasement was no longer identifiable. Gulam now had morbid gray skin, venomous red eyes, twiglike fingers, and abhorrent teeth that hung out like daggers. The ghoul winked at Castor as his slimy tongue slithered out of his mouth.

"Until next time," said the creature.

"How many monsters are in this city?" Castor asked as they walked to the bus stop.

"An innumerable amount. That's why it's best for a kid like you to not be on your own. Speaking of that, I still haven't wished you happy birthday have I?"

Castor pondered about his birthday. Among all the information crammed up in his mind, his birthday didn't seem all that important. He was more concerned about starting his first day of school tomorrow, and what Gulam had said earlier at Monster's Emporium. His mind couldn't help but chew on the word firebreather.

As Chord took him out for some cake and tacos, Castor ventured out the question.

"What's a firebreather? And why was Gulam so worried about it."

"A firebreather is someone who is able to control fire, so someone like you. In the monster hunting world, they're not common or particularly liked because in history firebreathers were known to betray monster hunters and associate themselves with monsters to gain their utmost desires. Because of this most of them didn't live so long."

Hot air began to pang through Castor's chest. He hadn't even started his first day of school, and already people weren't going to like him.

It seemed Chord had caught up to what Castor was thinking because he said "Don't worry most of the kids at your school probably don't care about a firebreather well enough to bother noticing. You should be able to breeze by. Now to answer your question about Gulam, don't worry about him, the MHA will take care of the loose firebreather in no time."

"Was my father ever a firebreather?"

"Yes. In fact, that was the one trait your mother never liked about your father. Your father was the epitome of the quiet man. Very secretive he was," said Chord.

"You don't think he-"

"I think we've asked enough questions for today. I will however tell you this, if your father could amount to something like that, he probably wouldn't be alive right now. Now, how about that cake?"

After Castor had his stomach filled up, he strolled back to the cornered apartment with Chord anticipating the things he'll do tomorrow at Aurelius Academy. He hoped he would fight a giant slimy monster, or maybe the monster would eat him alive, just like his fears.